Mina whips up ahi tartare

Video: Chef Michael Mina makes Ahi Tartare

Each add-on ingredient is arranged around a disk of chef Michael Mina's Ahi Tuna Tartare. This is how he serves it in his restaurants, but advises home cooks to mix ingredients together in the kitchen. CURT NORRIS

Celebrity chef and restaurateur Michael Mina created his signature Tartare of Ahi Tuna almost 20 years ago when he opened his first restaurant, Aqua in San Francisco. Now he has three restaurants in that city, plus numerous eateries from coast to coast, including Stonehill Tavern at the St. Regis Monarch Beach in Dana Point. Watch video of Chef Michael Mina preparing Ahi Tartare.

In his restaurants he serves the dish composed on the plate. The finely diced fish is pressed into a ring mold to fashion it into a tidy disc in the middle of the plate. The yolk of a quail egg sits in a shallow well. The bright red mound is surrounded with individual piles of the remaining ingredients and the whole shebang is mixed at the table by the server after the guest sees the stunning presentation. Chic, yes. Delicious, too.

But for making at home, he said it would be easier to mix it in one big batch in the kitchen, and form the mixture on individual plates into triangle and rectangle shapes. The back of a small spoon functions well as an ahi-pushing tool. And instead of quail egg yolks, use a find-it-anywhere chicken yolk.

Each add-on ingredient is arranged around a disk of chef Michael Mina's Ahi Tuna Tartare. This is how he serves it in his restaurants, but advises home cooks to mix ingredients together in the kitchen. CURT NORRIS
Celebrity chef Michael Mina's mixed and plated version of his Ahi Tuna Tartare. Mina is managing partner at Stonehill Tavern at St. Regis Monarch Beach in Dana Point CURT NORRIS
Celebrity chef-restaurateur Michael Mina poses with food columnist Cathy Thomas, who holds a plate with Mina's Ahi Tuna Tartare. CURT NORRIS

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